Shanghai Surprises: Happy Birthday Audrey!

Time really does seem to fly by- it seems like it was only yesterday that Audrey was born! Considering that she is the second kid and we have about half the pictures and videos of her than we have of Grace at the same age, we decided that we would actually have a little party for her. In the Chinese culture, the first birthday is a big deal so we tried to incorporate a few traditional Chinese customs into the celebration.

First of all, the baby must wear red as this is the color of luck. Next, it is traditional to celebrate with a dinner for family and friends and one of the things I love about restaurants in China is the "private room". Many mid & upper end places offer a private room you can reserve. All have a round table (another tradition- no square tables so that everyone can see each other) and most have a giant lazy susan in the middle so you can easily share your dishes. The best part is that dinner with Grace becomes much easier when we can shut the door and let her run around the room or plop her in front of her DVD player (I am not proud of it but yes, we have become THOSE parents who let their kid watch the DVD in a restaurant- as long as it keeps her quite and sitting in one place).

Our Chinese friends brought Audrey some traditional gifts including a red pocket (basically a red envelope with money in it), a little silver bracelet, and a red necklace with a tiny gold charm on it. And being that we are in China, I thought it would be fun to commemorate with a custom made panda bear cake (see pics).

Even though it was a motley crew of guests- Sev's boss from the US, our friends who live here but are from Minnesota and a couple of their friends who had just flown in the day before, and our Chinese friends- a good time was had by all. Hope you enjoy the pictures!